A New Fiedler Reader

Leslie Fiedler's radical opinions and theories have changed the way we think about American literature and pop culture, challenging long-established schools and ushering in a genre of first-person, experience-based criticism. Praised and respected as "one of the most important figures in the history of American cultural thought in this century," Fiedler introduced groundbreaking ideas that now permeate university studies in literature: a homoerotic element in American machismo, interracial dependence as the classical American bond, those on the social margins being "secret selves," and the continuum of "high" and "low" culture. Designed to delight Fiedler's contemporary audience and introduce the author to a whole new generation of readers, A New Fiedler Reader is a captivating anthology of Fiedler's most notorious and celebrated essays, along with a selection of his engaging poems and short fiction. A literary icon, Fiedler is among those who urged legalization of marijuana in the late '60s; suggested that college students read Timothy Leary along with Milton; and was accused of corrupting the young with dangerous leftist ideas. Collected are Fiedler's most widely known articles, from "Come Back to the Raft Ag'in, Huck Honey " to "An Almost Imaginary Interview: Hemingway in Ketchum." Complementing these essays are various lesser known poems and short stories, providing the reader with the complete Fiedler experience.